Adjustable damper



Jan. 9, 1940;

c. s. WHEELER ADJUSTABLE DAMPER F 'iled June 27, 1938 czwwfimrw waft w numeral 1.

' Patented Jan. 9, 1940 2 UNITED, STATES PATENT} oE -Ics j r 2,186,353 A i I ADJUSTABLE DAM PERU v Charles S. Wheeler, Los Angel'es,'Calif assignor to Gontrolair. Manufacturing: 00., a "partnership firm composed of 'CharlesuS. Wheeler, an individual, and H. S. McClelland, Inc., a corporation of California Application am 27. 1938, sensing). 216,061 v w s (c1. 98-1 10)'-"- This invention relates to damper Structures of the general type employed in air registers of air conditioning systems, and the like, and has, as a broad object, to provide a simple, reliable and inexpensive mechanism for adjusting the vanes of a damper to'vary the flow of air therethrough and for holding the vanes in adjusted position.

The manner in which this object is attained,

together with'minor objects and features of the 10 invention, will now be disclosed bydescribing in detail, with reference to the drawing,- a specific embodiment of the invention.

In the-drawing: Fig.1 is a front elevational view of a damper stantially open position;

Fig.2 is a vertical section taken through the damper, approximately in the plane 11-11 of Fig. l, and showing the damper installed in an Fig. 4 is a skeleton perspective view ofthe ad ,justing mechanism only, detached fromthe frame and the damper vanes; and

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical sectional View taken approximately on the line V-V of Fig. v3.

Referring, first, to Figs. land 2, the damper construction thereindepicted comprises a rectangular frame consisting of a topplate I, a

bottom plate 2 and side plates 3 and 4, all of which are secured together at the corners to form a relatively rigid framework. The front and rear edges may be bent outwardly at right angles to define reinforcing flanges 5 which also function to fit against the walls of the passage in which the damper is mounted and maintain clearance between the ends of moving elements projecting through the upper and lower walls I and 2 with respect to the upper and lower walls cf the passage in which the damper is mounted,

all as shown in Fig.2. 6 r

betweenthe upper and lower frame plates I and 2 eight yanes divided into two sets, those. in one set being identified by the reference numeral 6 and those in the other group by the reference Each of these van'es is supported for swinging movern'entabout its front edge as an axis. To this end a plurality of vertical rods 8, '9, ll], II and I2 are v extended between and anchored at their upper and lower ends to 55 the. upper and lower frameplates I and 2, re-

0 in accordance with the invention shownin sub- 'The particular damper shown has mountedture which receives therodl9 attached to that :vane 1 which is associated with the hinge rod I I.

spectively. The edge vanes 5 and 1 are pivotally secured totheend rods 8 and I2, respectively, by folding the ends of the vanes about the rods. withfspaced leaves at their front edge, which are hi5 folded around the rods 9,10 and II, the leaves on each two adjacent vanes 6 and 1 being folded about the associated rod 9, 10 for. in staggered fi-relation in piano hinge fashion, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. When the vanes 'arein open position, 410 I they extend substantially parallel to the side frame members 3 and 4, the vane 6 associated with the rod 8 lying flat against the member 4;

the vane member 1 associated with rod l2 lying flat against the wall member 3; and the remain- ,ing vanes 6 and 1 associated with each of the rods 9, l0 and H lying flat against each other. To close the damperv all of the vanes 6 are rotated in counter-clockwise direction and all of the-vanes 1 are rotated. in clockwise direction Q0 (the direction of rotation being taken with refer ence to Fig. 3), until the'rear free edges of each of the vanes .6 abut'against the free edge of one of the vanes "I.

All of the vanes 6 are connectedfor movement in unison'by a bar l6 lying against the upper surface of the lower frame member 2 and all of the vanes I are interconnected for movement in uni- }son by a bar I! lying against the under surface of the top frame plate l. Thus the rear edge of i each vane Bis rolled around and thereby secured to a rod l8, the lower ends of-all of which rods extend slightly below the lower edges of the vanes and project into aperturesprovided thereforin the bar 16. Similarly, the rear edges of all of the vanes 1 are rolled about and engage rods IS, the upper ends of which project beyond the upper edges of the vanes and into apertures-provided thereforinthe bar l'I. These bars Ifiand H are adapted to be moved simul- O taneously inopposite directions by'a mechanism next to be described.

With reference, first,=to he bar 11, a link 20, positioned immediately below theto'pframe plate I, providedat one'end with an aperframe plates l and2, respectively. The arm 22 The remaining vanes are each. rovided respect to the bracket 26 and a washer 29 is pressed on the screw immediately back of the; bracket 26 to prevent forward movement of the I screw. The screw 25 passes through an aperture 30 in the bracket 26 which aperture is substantially larger than the screw so that the screw fits loosely therein. The screw head 28 is provided with a hexagonal socket recess 3| for the reception of a wrench 33 (Fig. 4). 1

By turning the screw 25 the, nut 24 is caused to move back and forth along the screw to swing the arm 22 through an are. This movement is transmitted through link 20 and the rod i9, which it engages and thence to the bar il causing simultaneous motion of all of the vanes 1 toward open or closed position, depending upon the direction of rotation of the screw 25.

The movement of arm 22, by the screw and nut as described, also rotates the shaft 23 to which arm 22 is afiixed and the movement of this shaft is utilized to simultaneously shift the barlfi which controls the vanes 6. Thus there is secured to the shaft 23 near its lower end just above the lower frame plate 2 an arm 35, the outer end of which is provided with a longitudinal slot 36 which engages the rod l8 connected to that vane 5 which is hinged on the rod it. Therefore swinging movement of the arm 35 is transmitted to the bar it to simultaneously swing the rear edges of all of the vanes 6. It will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 3 that the shaft 23 is positioned relatively close to the rod I?) which constitutes the axis of swinging movement of the rod l8 which the slotted arm 35 engages. The slot 36 permits of the sliding movement necessary between the arm 35 and the rod H! with which it connects by virtue of the spacing between the rod l and the shaft 23.

The lengths of link 20, arm 22 and arm 35, and their relative positions, are such that any swinging movement of arm 22 produces equal swinging movement of both the bar it and the bar I! but in opposite directions, thereby simultaneously moving all of the vanes either toward open or closed position, depending upon the direction of rotation of the screw 25.

Thus referring to Fig. 4, turning the screw 25 in counter-clockwise direction moves the nut 24 downwardly, swinging the arms 22 and 35 in clockwise direction. f The movement of arm 35 swings the bar it and the rods l8 toward the left, thereby moving the vanes 6 toward open position. On the other hand the clockwise motion of the arm 22 tends to straighten the toggle link, consisting of arm22 and link 29 taken together, thereby swinging the bar ll and the rod l9 toward the right, which moves the vanes 1 toward open position. Reverse motion of the screw 25 moves bar I to the right and bar I! to the left, thereby moving the vanes 6 and 1 toward closed position.

By virtue of the low pitch of the threads on screw 25 and nut 24, the drive is irreversable so that when the vanes are adjusted to a desired position and the key or wrench 33 removed, it is impossible for the vanes to become displaced from the position into which they have been set.

For the purpose of explaining the invention, a particular embodiment thereof has been described in detail, but it is to be understood that vane mounted for swinging movement between said framernembers about an axis parallel to the axis of said'first vane, a shaft extending between said frame members and rotatably supported thereby, a pair of arms secured to said shaft for rotation thereby, one arm being positioned adjacent one of said frame members and the other arm being positioned adjacent the other frame member, means connecting one of said arms to one of said vanes for rotation of that vane about itsaxis in response to rotation of said shaft,

'means connecting the other arm to the other vane for rotation of the said other vane by the shaft simultaneously with butin a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said one vane, and means for rotating said shaft.

2. A device of the type described, comprising a pair of spaced apart frame members, a first vane positioned between said frame members and supported for swinging movement about an axis extending between said frame members, a second vane positioned between said frame members and supported for swinging movement about a second axis parallel to said first mentioned axis, a shaft extending between said frame members and rotatably supported thereby, a pair of arms secured to saidshaft for rotation thereby, link means connecting one of said arms to one of said vanes for rotation of that vane about its axis in a direction opposite to said shaft in response to rotation of said shaft, means slidably connecting said other arm to a point on said other vane spaced fromthe axis thereof, whereby rotation of said shaft rotates said other vane about its axis in the same direction as the shaft, and means for rotating said shaft and holding it many position to which it is rotated.

3. A device asdescribed in claim 1, including a plurality of vanes additional to said first and second vanes with means interconnecting a portion of said additional vanes to said first vane for movement in unison therewith in onedirection, and means connecting the remainder of said additional vanes to said second vane for simultaneous movement with said second'vane in the opposite direction.

CHARLES S. WHEELER. 

